The Roach Was Merely A Player ... Backstage

WHAT'S UP

October 30, 1992|by MYRA YELLIN GOLDFARB

George Miller's one-man show, "Harry Truman -- Live," at Theatre Outlet became a two-charact er drama during last week's opening-night performance when a large cockroach unexpectedly wandered across the stage during the first act.

If Miller saw the Kafkaesque apparition, he didn't let on, despite titters from the audience as the roach marched back and forth across the stage.

The show, an original monologue written by Miller, continues through Nov. 7. For information, call 820-9270.

Speaking of roaches, area actor Tim Roche was in rare form eight days ago at Allentown's best-known raw bar, the Stonewall, as he and a cast of assorted extras performed a very definitely adult late-night live soap, "Night Nurses on 2."

According to Roche, his half-hour continuing drama is "rude."

"While we're not ripping up photos (of the pope), we're ripping up reputations," said Roche, alluding to the number of Lehigh Valley people and places mentioned in his withering satire.

The show, which begins at 11:30 p.m., continues next Thursday and Nov. 12. For information, call 432-0706.

Bad theater is an alien term for actress Frances Sternhagen, currently in peak form in Graham Reid's new play "Rememberance," now at the John Houseman Theater on New York's W. 42nd Street. (Call 212-967-9077 for information.) Sternhagen is well known to Allentown College audiences as the mother of former ACT One stars, Tony and Paul Carlin.

Sternhagen has never been at a loss for finding roles as an older woman. Besides originating the Katherine Hepburn role in "On Golden Pond" on Broadway, Sternhagen played Miss Daisy in "Driving Miss Daisy" New York for more then three years.

"I like the theater best of all," said Sternhagen after a recent matinee performance, "but I did enjoy performing in the movie, `Outland' with Sean Connery. I don't think this play will ever be dated because our idea of who is old is constantly changing."

In the bittersweet romance set in Belfast, Sternhagen plays a 63-year-old Catholic enamored with a 68-year-old Protestant, played by Milo O'Shea. In a series of very literate and funny exchanges, the two senior lovers have a facedown with their displeased adult children.

"In most cases parents stay together because of the children. This is the first love affair where parents stay apart because of the children," said Sternhagen.